Wednesday, 20 April 2011

Toad Spawn in the river

Tuesday !9th April 2011
About 25 years I observed Toads spawning in the River Wharfe near Grassington in Wharfedale. I mentioned this to a Dr Steve Ormerod who is now a Professor at (Cardiff university) he was the son of a friend of mine. He published a paper on toad spawning in rivers because I don't think it had been observed at that time.

Today on a picnic with two of my grandchildren we found loads of toad spawn in the same stretch of the river. Thinking about it, the toads have very little choice as to where they can spawn because there are no ponds in this well drained limestone country so I suppose if the rivers don't flood and wash the spawn away the toads must have been successful over the years and kept the local population going.
I've also noticed over the years that our native Crayfish has disappeared and has been replaced with the American Signal Crayfish the river is teeming with them.

Many strings of toad spawn in the quieter stretches of the river

The American Signal Crayfish

And finally my sons dog..... George with his trophies....all the stones he's brought out from the bed of the river

3 comments:

That's interesting David - I've noticed that toads occasionally spawn in the pools left behind by the falling water level in the River Wear in its middle reaches, here in Weardale in Durham - although minnows also get stranded in the same pools, which I suspect may eat the emerging tadpoles

My name is David Crossley I am married with two grown up children and five grandchildren. I am a retired Engineering Instructor, retired in 1999. I have many interests - I am a member of Burnley Film Makers, an amateur film maker and photographer, a walker,all aspects of the great outdoors, wildlife gardening, wild life ponds and wild orchids. The highlight of my walking was probably trekking through the Himalayas in Nepal.

Thank you for visiting my blog, please leave a comment to let me know that you have visited and I can visit yours.